Tribal Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting

The Tribal Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Grant Program awards five-year cooperative agreements that support evidence-based home visiting services for American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) families and children. Elig

The Tribal Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Program makes awards to Tribes (or consortia of Tribes), Tribal Organizations, and Urban Indian Organizations, to strengthen and improve maternal and child health services, improve service coordination for at-risk communities, and identify and provide comprehensive evidence-based home visiting services to families who reside in at-risk communities.

Specifically: Eligible applicants are federally recognized Indian tribes (or consortia of tribes), tribal organizations, and urban Indian organizations, as defined by section 4 of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, Public Law 94-437. Applications from individuals (including sole proprietorships) and foreign entities are not eligible and will be disqualified from the merit review and funding under this funding opportunity. Faith-based and community organizations that meet the eligibility requirements are eligible to receive awards under this funding opportunity.

Eligible families in at-risk AIAN communities include pregnant women, expectant fathers, parents, and primary caregivers of children aged birth through kindergarten entry, including grandparents or other relatives of the child, foster parents who are serving as the child's primary caregiver, and non-custodial parents who have an ongoing relationship with, and at times provide physical care for, the child. Specifically: • Eligible families residing in at-risk American Indian/Alaskan Native communities in need of such services, as identified in a needs assessment; • Low-income eligible families; • Eligible families who are pregnant women under age 21; • Eligible families with a history of child abuse or neglect or have had interactions with child welfare services; • Eligible families with a history of substance abuse or need substance abuse treatment; • Eligible families that have users of tobacco products in the home; • Eligible families that are or have children with low student achievement; • Eligible families with children with developmental delays or disabilities; and • Eligible families who, or that include individuals serving or formerly serving in the Armed Forces, including those with members who have had multiple deployments outside the US. Eligible family: • A woman who is pregnant, and the father of the child if available, or • A parent or primary caregiver of the child, including grandparents or other relatives and foster parents serving as the child's primary caregiver from birth until kindergarten entry, including a noncustodial parent with an ongoing relationship with, and at times provides physical care for the child.

Uses: Assistance for the Tribal MIECHV Program will be used to: (a) conduct a needs assessment that considers community characteristics and the quality and capacity of existing home visiting programs and other supportive services; (b) is coordinated with other relevant needs assessments and involves community stakeholders as appropriate; (c) planning efforts to address identified needs by developing capacity and infrastructure; (d) providing high-quality, evidence-based home visiting services to pregnant women and families with young children aged birth to kindergarten entry; (e) establishing, measuring, and reporting on progress toward meeting performance measures in six legislatively-mandated benchmark areas; and (f) conducting or participating in rigorous evaluation activities.

Tribal MIECHV cooperative agreements are generally awarded for a 63-month project period with one 15-month budget period in Year 1 followed by four 12-month budget periods. In the first year of the project, awards will be made on a competitive basis. Pending successful completion of Year 1 activities, including submission of a plan that meets program requirements, and approval of this plan, applications will be considered on a noncompetitive continuation basis for Years 2-5 subject to availability of funds, satisfactory progress of the recipient , and a determination that continued funding would be in the best interest of the Federal Government.

Applications will be evaluated based upon the criteria published in each NOFO.

Each application is reviewed against four factors: eligibility, the application deadline, required electronic submission or waiver requested and approved, and the Award Ceiling. If the application does not meet all of these factors, then it is disqualified from the merit review process. After the initial review, applications are reviewed and evaluated by merit review panels using only the criteria described in the Application Review section of the NOFO. Each panel is composed of experts with knowledge and experience in the area under review. Generally, review panels include three reviewers and one chairperson. While merit review scores and their ranking are not binding, ACF does consider them when selecting projects for funding. Scores and rankings are only one element used in the award decision-making process. Other criteria are explained in the Program Description section and in the Application Review section of the NOFO. For example, ACF reserves the right to evaluate applications in the larger context of the overall portfolio by considering the geographic distribution of federal funds (e.g., ensuring coverage of states, counties, or service areas) in its pre-award decisions. ACF may elect not to fund applicants with management or financial problems that would indicate an inability to successfully complete the proposed project. In addition, ACF may elect to not allow a prime recipient to subaward if there is any indication that they are unable to properly monitor and manage subrecipients. Applications may be funded in whole or in part. Successful applicants may be funded at an amount lower than requested.

Non-competing continuations will be issued based on availability of funds, satisfactory progress meeting the requirements of the Tribal MIECHV program, compliance with terms and conditions and a determination that continuation funding is in the best interest of the federal government.

There is no appeal process for unsuccessful applicants. For existing recipients, appeals in regards to disputes may take place in accordance with 45 CFR Part 16, subject to the limitations of the Appendix A.